Even Ohio State linebackers coach Luke Fickell isn't expecting James Laurinaitis to blow away NFL talent evaluators at the NFL Combine as the linebacker group reports to Indianapolis today.

"If you're just looking at straight numbers, I don't think he'll test as well as maybe Marcus (Freeman) will," Fickell said. "But help him or hurt him, I think it's going to help him. He won't be down the charts by any means. He's going to test good. I don't think he'll jump off the charts at them, but for him, I don't think it's about that. You can't put on film and see anything negative. So I don't think he could hurt himself."

In fact, Laurinaitis, with three years of college football as a consensus All-American, has established a reputation as a guy who maybe isn't the most athletic linebacker in the world. Mock drafts so far are already using that reputation. NFL people know what they think, so if Laurinaitis doesn't dominate the tests, that won't be a surprise. But maybe he can do better than expected, and move himself up among the inside linebackers.

"People aren't going to expect me to be athletic, but when they see what I can do with no pads on running around, I think I'll surprise some people," Laurinaitis said.

"There are stereotypes across the board. You look at guys like Paul Posluszny, they said he's not athletic and he's played well for Buffalo. Same thing with Dan Connor. Maybe it's something with Big Ten linebackers. But it's something you have to deal with. We're prepared to deal with those questions and I have nothing to hide. I'm going to go out and show them."

But Laurinaitis doesn't want to be like those two Penn State linebackers he mentioned. Posluszny was the second pick of the second round by Buffalo two years ago. Connor was drafted in the third round by Carolina last year.

There is a first-round expectation here, and I'll be stunned if he's not a first-round pick. He missed his chance to show off his practice and game skills when the flu kept him from going to the Senior Bowl. He's certainly more a game guy than he is a drill guy. But he's also looking forward to talking with any of the 32 teams that are interested.

"When I get to talk with GMs and talk straight football, I think I'll win some people over," Laurinaitis said.

My absolute uneducated guess based only on my opinion of Laurinaitis from watching him the last four years, and a gut instinct that may actually be hunger pangs: Laurinaitis knows dropping into coverage is one of his greatest skills, and though he played at 240 or 245, he said he could get to 255 without a problem. He thinks he can play any linebacker spot in a 4-3 defense, though he'd obviously be on the inside for a 3-4 team. So let's send him to his hometown Minnesota Vikings at pick No 22.

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